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Free Updates on NovoDS Studio Digital Signage software provide Crowd Control with People Counting widget and many productivity updates

New and existing users of Vivitek’s popular NovoDS Digital Signage solution, can now benefit from major updates that are set to increase public safety with crowd control – using a People Counting widget – while also enhancing creativity and productivity. Available for free, the upgrades add flexibility and value to all organisations’ digital signage needs. This upgrade comes at a time when Digital Signage is increasingly important for organisations to ensure that social distancing requirements are met in public and office spaces.

People Counting widget

With staff now returning back to the workplace, customers coming back to stores and education institutions preparing to welcome students back after the lockdown and summer period, the upgrades to NovoDS make it easy to ensure that social distancing directions can be easily updated and broadcast to all screens. A key factor contributing to a safe environment is crowd control, which is enabled with the free People Counting widget in NovoDS Studio and NovoDS Cloud when used with the Vivotek Counting camera. When using the People Counting widget and the Vivotek camera, the signage display can indicate the number of people in a specific area at any given time, relative to the maximum number allowed to enter. This makes it easier to control the flow of people safely, thus limiting the dangers of breaching social distancing rules by overcrowding a space. The screen can of course continue to display welcome messages, way-finding information, lunch or promotional offers, or last minute lesson or room changes.

Background Music on playlists

The recent upgrades also offers free widgets available help users to add their creativity to playlist creations. For instance, users can set Internet radio as background music in environments that have the relevant license to play music in a public place. Alternatively, users can also select their local music as the background music. For added convenience, no networking or computer connectivity is required.

Social Media integration

To create even more visual impact, NovoDS users can now use their Facebook or Instagram content as their image library. They can easily export pictures and images from their Facebook and Instagram accounts, enabling them to pair their images with their music to create a truly personalised viewing and listening experience. Additionally, a new Classic theme is now available for Twitter messages, as well as stylish and contemporary styles for presenting weather updates.

Video Playback

The Video Playback Window is a new option that enables users to specify the playback window’s start time and end time, with no video editing required. This feature will make it easier for any administrator to add in video selections into any playlist.

Creating interactivity

Helping boost productivity further, is the NovoDS’s new “Go-Back” button. This enables users to build interactive signage applications even more quickly and easily. This makes HTML5-based kiosk solutions complete.

One-year free NovoDS Cloud promotion

The free upgrade features apply to the entire NovoDS portfolio of add on devices to add Digital Signage to existing screens, as well as NovoDisplay which offers a 4K screen with digital signage and wireless collaboration embedded.

The NovoDS Cloud for central administration and content creation in the cloud (free trial available on novods.com) is on promotion until the end of the year. Vivitek’s recent announcement offers a selection of its NovoConnect and all of its NovoDisplay solutions now available with a free, one-year NovoDS Cloud subscription promotion. This value-packed initiative has been designed to make it easy for organisations to start with digital signage, offered in combination with wireless collaboration on the displays during meetings. The offer is valid until 31 Dec 2020.

Commenting on the offer, Holger Graeff, General Manager, Vivitek EMEA, said: “The importance of effective digital signage has been magnified in the post pandemic world. It is one of the easiest and most convenient ways to keep individuals and large groups informed, updated and advised. With its unmatched ease of use, Vivitek’s NovoDS is ideally suited to this task, as users do not need specialist IT skills or training to add or amend content, or to manage it. The new upgrades, especially NovoDS’s compatibility with a people counting camera, makes it an invaluable communication tool as stores, restaurant, schools and workplaces start to open up again.”